Cubfan64
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- Feb 13, 2006
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Sims Ely's "The Lost Dutchman Mine"...
Started reading a 1954 copy of Ely's book on the LDM and as I run into questions/comments, I thought I'd post here for answers or discussion.
1. Ely comments that Adolph Ruth went to the Bark Ranch in an attempt to find someone(s) to pack him into the mountains. Up until this point, I think every story I've read (admittedly not that many) says that 2 cowhands took him into the mountains, but Ely says 2 other prospectors (no names) that happened to be there at the time packed him in.
Any evidence of who these 2 guys were?
I would think that if it's a possibility that Ruth was killed by whoever packed him in (for whatever maps and information he may have had), 2 prospectors would have alot more motive than 2 cowhands.
Was a police report ever made/discovered regarding Ruth's disappearance with questions to the people that packed him in?
2. Ely mentions that an Arizona newspaper sent a group in which eventually found Ruth's skull. I thought I had read in numerous places that Brownie Holmes was a part of that group, but he's not listed in Ely's story here - what's up with that?
3. Contrary to other reports in other stories again, Ely says that the skull was sent to a branch of the Smithsonian Institute to be examined by a staff anthropoligist who firmly believed the holes in the skull were the results of bullets - likely .44 or .45 caliber. I've seen reports that say nothing was ever sent anywhere - that only the skeletal remains were sent and the investigator believed the death was from natural causes (seems odd to me that you could determine that without seeing the skull if in fact there were holes which - whether from bullet holes or head trauma - might be the cause of death), etc... what story seems to be the true one?
4. I'm really confused on something else Ely wrote in regards to Jim Bark and an investment banker named Devereaux. It has little to do with the LDM, but I just don't "get" the gist of one of Ely's comments.
Without typing in the whole quote, basically at one point Bark took Devereaux out to a potential prospecting site he knew about and was showing the guy how to pan for gold. The story goes that he crushed enough rock to allow the guy to pan, but at one point slipped a $5 gold coin into the gravel. He goes on to say that Devereaux continued panning, discovered the coin and slipped it into his pocket without saying a word. Neither men spoke about it on their return trip either, but Ely says here... "but thenceforth it was evident that Devereaux had won Jim's respect."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but how in the world does taking the gold coin and not saying anything about it win the respect of the person who put it in there? Either Devereaux was an idiot and when he saw the coin, believed that he had actually panned it from the rocks (in which case his slipping it into his pocket and not saying anything was pretty selfish and slimey), or he guessed Bark had put it in there right away, but still pocketed it and didn't say anything which to me would also be a very odd response. Why would anything he did have earned great respect from Bark?
On to chapter 3 tonight - thanks, and I don't expect anyone to give me direct answers to the above questions if they are things that people have spent exhaustive research time and money on answering themselves. They're just things that strike me as I'm reading is all.
Started reading a 1954 copy of Ely's book on the LDM and as I run into questions/comments, I thought I'd post here for answers or discussion.
1. Ely comments that Adolph Ruth went to the Bark Ranch in an attempt to find someone(s) to pack him into the mountains. Up until this point, I think every story I've read (admittedly not that many) says that 2 cowhands took him into the mountains, but Ely says 2 other prospectors (no names) that happened to be there at the time packed him in.
Any evidence of who these 2 guys were?
I would think that if it's a possibility that Ruth was killed by whoever packed him in (for whatever maps and information he may have had), 2 prospectors would have alot more motive than 2 cowhands.
Was a police report ever made/discovered regarding Ruth's disappearance with questions to the people that packed him in?
2. Ely mentions that an Arizona newspaper sent a group in which eventually found Ruth's skull. I thought I had read in numerous places that Brownie Holmes was a part of that group, but he's not listed in Ely's story here - what's up with that?
3. Contrary to other reports in other stories again, Ely says that the skull was sent to a branch of the Smithsonian Institute to be examined by a staff anthropoligist who firmly believed the holes in the skull were the results of bullets - likely .44 or .45 caliber. I've seen reports that say nothing was ever sent anywhere - that only the skeletal remains were sent and the investigator believed the death was from natural causes (seems odd to me that you could determine that without seeing the skull if in fact there were holes which - whether from bullet holes or head trauma - might be the cause of death), etc... what story seems to be the true one?
4. I'm really confused on something else Ely wrote in regards to Jim Bark and an investment banker named Devereaux. It has little to do with the LDM, but I just don't "get" the gist of one of Ely's comments.
Without typing in the whole quote, basically at one point Bark took Devereaux out to a potential prospecting site he knew about and was showing the guy how to pan for gold. The story goes that he crushed enough rock to allow the guy to pan, but at one point slipped a $5 gold coin into the gravel. He goes on to say that Devereaux continued panning, discovered the coin and slipped it into his pocket without saying a word. Neither men spoke about it on their return trip either, but Ely says here... "but thenceforth it was evident that Devereaux had won Jim's respect."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but how in the world does taking the gold coin and not saying anything about it win the respect of the person who put it in there? Either Devereaux was an idiot and when he saw the coin, believed that he had actually panned it from the rocks (in which case his slipping it into his pocket and not saying anything was pretty selfish and slimey), or he guessed Bark had put it in there right away, but still pocketed it and didn't say anything which to me would also be a very odd response. Why would anything he did have earned great respect from Bark?
On to chapter 3 tonight - thanks, and I don't expect anyone to give me direct answers to the above questions if they are things that people have spent exhaustive research time and money on answering themselves. They're just things that strike me as I'm reading is all.
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